PlayStation All-Stars Title Fight
by LOL.DUDE.64
Summary: The heroes thought that after the defeat of Polygon-Man, their troubles would be over. Try saying that after something much bigger than Polygon-Man gets ahold of what made Polygon-Man so dangerous in the first place. (Story mode plot idea for PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale 2, which I call PlayStation All-Stars Title Fight)
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

**Author's Note: **Hey, LOL DUDE here. I'm gonna be honest, this whole thing is mostly coming out of boredom and, if you happen to like it and want more, I can't guarantee that I can deliver new chapters on a regular basis. Heck, I don't even know if I'll end up finishing this. But, of what I do put out, enjoy!

Such blind fools, stumbling to small hills and declaring themselves kings of them.

After _their_ victory against _him_, _they_ believed themselves to be champions.

_They_ all dreamed and fantasized about what they would do with _his_ power.

But a blind fool can only do that… dream.

The power went to none of _them_. "Vanished" without a trace.

_They_ searched on and on, but blind fools can never find what they are looking for.

And when _they_ realized this, they left, to repair what was lost to _him_.

Blindness will keep one from finding what they are looking for.

But _I_ am not blind.

_I_ am all-seeing, all-knowing.

It was _I_ that found the power, drifting through nothingness.

It came to me like a child lost in the rain.

And _I_ accepted it.

_I_ know what _I_ must use it for.

Soon, _they_ will know who _I_ am.

What _I_ am capable of.

_They_ will pay for casting _me _aside.

For _I _am the one who will strike _them_ down.

And destroy what cannot be _mine_.


	2. Chapter 2: Quite an Entrance

**Author's Note: **Alright, here comes the hard part. I apologize in advance for any inaccuracies to the original PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale or the stories of its source games, as I haven't played all of them. Heck, I've barely even played PSASBR and I'm writing this. I'll try my best!

It wasn't a good day. No day was a good day to him, after all that he has been through. All that he did most days, this day included, was sit and brood in the throne that he had usurped quite some time ago. It was adorned with golden metalwork in shapes resembling savage beasts, befitting of the God of War. He himself was clad in the armor once worn by Ares, the previous God of War. Now that Kratos had killed him, he took the title. One really does keep what they kill.

Kratos was all alone in the massive throne room. After everything and everyone he had killed to get where he was, he never realized that that would never bring his wife and daughter back. Not even the power that resided within a being that attempted to meld universes together in order to fight their strongest residents would work, as they were never able to find it after it disappeared. Angry, he returned to his own realm to enact his revenge on those who sought to end him, including his own father, Zeus. Such events went on and on in his mind as he sat in the great throne.

It started with a rumble. Kratos looked up from his thoughts, not knowing what it was. Another rumble. After all the beasts that Kratos had encountered, he knew that a rumbling such as that could only mean trouble. He got up and grabbed the Blades of Exile, which he always kept at his side. Standing still, he waited for the next rumble. What he didn't expect was part of the floor in front of the throne to virtually explode, creating a large crater at the site.

Kratos now knew for sure that whatever was causing the rumbling was out to get him. He went into a battle stance as he saw several figures jump out of them. The appearance of them surprised Kratos, as they did not resemble anything he had encountered in the past. All of them were equipped with ornate armor and weapons, and each had helmets or masks that made them resemble demons. Where one would find skin, all they had was the purple glow of dark magic.

Not wasting any time, they all charged, knowing that the God of War was their target. Kratos counted at least seven or eight, and prepared his defense accordingly. One shouted in a warped voice as it spun around and swung its sword. His target saw this coming and rolled to the side, slashing at the demon warrior's back with one of the Blades of Exile. It stumbled, but turned around, ready for more. Kratos threw a blade at the enemy, wrapping the chain that it was bound to around its leg and yanked it. The demon's strength was no match for the Spartan's as he was thrown through the air at one of his comrades, knocking them both to the ground.

Two more of the enemy warriors came at opposite sides of Kratos, attempting a team attack. Kratos simply ducked and slashed at both of them, landing critical blows and causing them to fall over and fade into dust. The God of War now knew his enemies and was prepared to finish them all off when someone else jumped out of the crater. They were quick to draw their curious sword and attack two demon warriors next to the crater, defeating them instantly. Both Kratos and this figure fought of the remaining four, then pointed their swords at one another, not expecting who the other was.

Nariko gave a look of confusion, saying to the Spartan, "Kratos?"

"Nariko," Kratos said undeterred, "What is the meaning of all this?" After all the times he has been betrayed, even those who had fought at his side were not to be easily trusted.

"If you think I'm responsible for the Taira coming here, you are mistaken," replied Nariko, who already knew what Kratos' question concerned.

Kratos stared at her for a moment before asking, "Who are the Taira?"

"I don't know much more than you do about them, besides the name. Obviously, their ranks are on the demonic side," replied Nariko, "You want to let up on that sword any time soon?"

The God of War said nothing as he slowly lowered his sword, as Nariko did the same.

"Then why are you here?" asked Kratos.

"That group of Taira was a lot larger when they first came in to my world, wreaking havoc," explained Nariko, "After I fought them off for a bit, they began to retreat back into a portal, and I followed."

"Were there any others?"

"No… except…"

"What?"

"They had these two large beasts with them. I fought off one, but, the other…"

Their conversation was interrupted by something very large leaping very high out of the crater, about to land on Kratos and Nariko. Both dodged out of the way before the beast landed.

"… is here, I suppose," finished Nariko.

Both looked it over. It was large and six limbs: Two claws in the front and four legs in the back. The entire upside of it was covered in a thick, dark purple carapace. Its most imposing feature was the design of a demonic skull where its head would be. It let out a loud roar as it became aware of the two threats in front of it.

"I can handle this," said Kratos, determined.

"What, you're not going to leave any for me?" joked Nariko.

"Prepare yourself," Kratos tightened his grip on the Blades of Exile as he shouted to the crab, "because you are no match for the God of War!"

**Author's Note 2: Revengeance: **Yeah, I probably could have ended this more properly, but I'm a bit time-stressed at the moment, so I'll finish up this scene in the next chapter. See ya then!


	3. Chapter 3: How Did This Happen?

**Author's Note: **If you're expecting new characters to show up, don't worry, I'll include one as soon as I can find a place that they'll fit well in. Pretty much all of the characters you can expect to see mirror that of this blog I made on the PlayStation All-Stars wiki, wiki/User_blog:LOLDUDE64/My_PSASBR_2_Ideas. And, now, on with the story!

The massive demon crab slammed up against the wall. The force of the impact wasn't strong enough to cause too much damage to it, as it quickly clamored to get up and got pretty ticked off. Kratos and Nariko knew that this fight was not going to be very easy.

Both of the warriors looked at one another.

"Any ideas?" Nariko asked, trying not to entirely take her attention off of the foe before them, who simply stood there and seethed.

Kratos focused his eyes back on the Taira crab, "I can give you a lift."

"That sounds like an idea to me," said Nariko as she went over to Kratos. The Spartan holstered the Blades of Exile for a quick moment as he cupped his hands for Nariko to step on. She ran up and got a footing before Kratos used his great strength to throw her through the air above the beast. All it could do was get on its hind legs and try to pinch her out of the air while Kratos noticed it something.

"A weak point!" Kratos shouted, referring to a large red circle of energy situated on its underbelly. He wasted no time as he drew the legendary Blade of Olympus and rushed towards it, yelling the battle cry, "Hades awaits!"

A loud bellow was heard as the Taira crab took the full slash of the godly sword and fell down, belly-up, in pain. Nariko landed on the ground and, seeing the demon wounded, took action alongside Kratos. She used her blades with extreme skill as she rapidly cut at the crab's skull-plate, as the God of War did the same at its backside. Both warriors jumped away when it let out another loud bellow, this time coming with the skull being shattered by Nariko's assault.

"Great, and now it's gotten angry," said an annoyed Nariko, "Things just got a lot more problematic."

She wasn't fast enough to entirely dodge the beast as it quickly got up and charged at her, the graze alone throwing her back against a wall. The pain was strong, but Nariko had to be stronger, and got up to face the attacker. It was about to slam her with its left claw before Kratos jumped onto its side, stabbing one of the Blades of Exile into its head carapace and using the other to cut off its left arm. The crab bucked, both out of pain and in an attempt to get the Spartan off of him, but Kratos simply stabbed the other Blade of Exile into its head in order to get a better hold.

"Nariko, now!"

"With… pleasure…" said Nariko as she realized that she couldn't think of any attacks that she had access to at that moment that would be enough to destroy it, "If only…"

Her quick thoughts were cut short when she saw a big barrel stuffed with what looked like fireworks roll towards the bucking beast. When it got close enough to it, the barrel was followed by a lightning-fast arrow, which hit it and caused it to explode right in front of the crab's exposed face. The force hit the demon crab head-on, throwing it backwards, along with Kratos. Nariko only ran past the the fading body of the Taira crab as she went to see if the God of War was okay.

"Kratos!" she stood there for a moment, staring into the smoke created by the explosion, hoping for a response. She was greeted by the sight of an expressionless Kratos as he walked out of the smoke, with soot on his armor, but overall unscathed.

"I am well," the God of War said, acknowledging Nariko's concerns, "Who is that?"

Nariko remembered the barrel and the arrow, and already knew who it was before turning around, "Kai!"

"Hey there, Mrs. 'Butt-Saved-By-Kai-Again'. What is this, like, the third time?" Kai joked, "And who might this be? Mr. 'Angry-and-Bald'?"

"Kai, this is Kratos, and I wouldn't joke around with him too much if I were you," smiled Nariko, as she knew she was going to anyway. She was her adopted sister, after all.

"I kinda remember him, from that whole dimension ripple thing," Kai recalled, "Speaking of that, I'd say that that another one is going on right now, because, otherwise, neither you nor me would be here right now, Nariko"

"I am well aware of that," coldly stated Kratos, "Did you come through a portal like the attackers and Nariko did?"

"Well, yes, actually. I think it's still open right now, as a matter of fact."

"We should investigate it. Do you need to grab anything?" Nariko asked Kratos.

"Give me a moment. I will meet you down in the tunnel," said the God of War before turning and walking to where he kept all of his equipment.

Kai was admiring the throne room when Kratos went to go get his things, "Man, this place is huge! Looks fit for an emperor!"

"More like a god," Nariko added, "They don't call him the God of War for nothing. Now, let's get going."

Both Nariko and Kai went over to the tunnel and began to traverse it. The passageway was long and narrow, around the size of the crab that they had just defeated. Both of them guessed that they had the beast tunnel through the rock, and it hid back while the foot soldiers were fighting. They soon entered a large, dark cave, lit only by a large portal made of a mysterious energy, with an image of the location of its sister portal in Nariko and Kai's universe visible in its center.

"Well, there's the portal," observed Kai, "Now what do we do?"

Nariko took a moment to look around the portal. She noticed two Taira warriors guarding the entrance.

"Why are there guards positioned there?" Nariko wondered.

"Maybe the portals can't be closed manually? You'd assume that whatever opened it would have closed it by now, when they're done with it," Kai hypothesized.

"Well, either way, we need to take care of those guards, then figure out what to do w-" Nariko's planning was interrupted by two quick arrows shot from Kai's crossbow, which hit the two guards in their heads, defeating them.

"Nice shot," Nariko complemented, albeit in a slightly irritated manner. Who knows what could have went wrong?

"No problem," grunted Kai as she vaulted over a rock sitting between them and the portal. Nariko did the same as she followed her and stood looking at the portal.

"Wonder where that guy is," said Kai, as Kratos had not met them down in the cave yet.

"I am here," Nariko and Kai both turned around to see Kratos, the God of War, standing near the entrance of the cave, donning his wrist and shoulder armor and wielding the Blades of Exile.

"Why'd you take off that armor of yours?" asked Kai.

Kratos only responded by saying, "It reminded me too much of my past," as he walked up to them.

Kai looked over at Nariko, who gave her a look that read, "He's been through a lot". They all stood by one another, wondering what to do with the portal.

"Hey, what's that?" Kai was walking over to their weird contraption situated next to the portal. It had five dials on it, each adorned with numbers 0-9 on them in a circular formation. They were currently set to, from left to right, 9, 8, 1, 3, and 2.

"Think that has anything to do with it?" Nariko asked Kratos.

"We have to be sure," replied the Spartan. He motioned for the young girl to try tampering with it. She twisted a dial, and all of them were met with the sound of the portal's energy shifting and a new image appearing in the center. They now knew that the dials controlled where the portal went.

"Now that we know that we can control it, any ideas?" asked Kai.

"We need to assemble warriors," stated Kratos, "As this power must be too powerful for just the three of us."

"But how are we going to know what to set the dials to? I doubt that we can get any information out of the Taira warriors, with all of them defeated an all," pondered Nariko, "Kai, check and see if there are any instructions on that contraption."

Kai nodded and began scanning it. She was relieved when she saw markings of numbers and emblems on the side of it.

"These look like coordinates right here," observed Kai as Kratos and Nariko came over to look at them, "Which one should we do first?"

"Cole might be able to help. His abilities let him tap into energy, which might make traversing from world to world easier," offered Nariko. Kratos seemed to agree.

"Look for the figure of a man with a clenched fist," said Kratos. Kai noticed it quickly and turned the dials accordingly: 0-0-2-2-3. They all looked up at the portal as they saw the image change to that of a rainy cityscape of design that they were only familiar to through the conflict with Polygon-Man.

"Let us go," Kratos stated as he walked into the portal. Nariko and Kai did the same, knowing that they were in for a long journey.

**Author's Note: Electric Boogaloo:** In the event that no one gets it, the codes are a reference to the five-digit codes you can find at the bottom of the spine of a PlayStation game box. Additionally, if you do some research, you may notice that the code for Cole's universe doesn't match inFAMOUS 1 or 2. There's a reason for this which you will see in the next chapter!


	4. Chapter 4: A Shocking Discovery

**Author's Note: **A new character? Hooray! Don't worry, this one isn't going to replace the other representative of their series, as you'll see below.

Seattle. Drenched and still being drenched in rain, as it almost always is. However, this didn't stop people from clamoring through the streets by foot, bike, or car, as they couldn't let the rain get in the way of whatever they needed to do. However, there were two particular areas of the city where commotion was occurring, one usual and the other… not quite.

In the usual area, Delsin was fighting off a group that certainly wasn't up to any good. It had become apparent that the Reapers, the infamous gang of Empire City, had survived the metropolis' downfall, and moved to Seattle. Now, the local conduit hero, Delsin Rowe, had to protect the peace.

"Peek-a-boo…" Delsin teased as he spotted a heavy weapons Reaper loading up his rocket launcher, "… I see you!"

Delsin fired two shots. One to knock the rocket launcher out of the Reaper's grip, and the other to hit him in the torso, binding him in Neon. As somebody of good morals, he wouldn't kill a foe unless he had to. In his mind, he knew that prison was a much better punishment for these gangsters.

"Why is it that a hero's job never ends when they think it would?" he remarked as he noticed plenty more Reapers headed his way. They were all armed with assault rifles, some of the jury rigged, as they weren't the most sophisticated gang in the world. A few found cover and began shooting at Delsin from it.

The conduit used his Neon ability of Light Speed to scale a building, so that he could get a better view of his attackers. He went out of Light Speed and grabbed ahold of a ledge, looking out and counting about 13 Reapers. Knowing that he needed to use something with a better area of effect, Delsin noticed a smoke stack at the top of the building, climbed up to it, and absorbed a bit of the smoke, swapping out his current powerset of Neon for Smoke. He channeled his power to generate a Sulfur Bomb, which, with a good toss, he lobbed at a group of Reapers hiding behind cover. The ball of concentrated smoke exploded, knocking a few foes back and leaving the rest coughing. This was Delsin's chance.

Meanwhile, a commotion was arising in another part of town about something odd that had just happened. A portal opened in the middle of the street, and three odd-looking figures stepped out of it. These were none other than Kratos, Nariko, and Kai. Of course, none of the civilians who bore witness to them had any idea who they were. They simply got frightened by their odd appearances and ran away.

"This city doesn't look familiar," stated Nariko, "the one I recall had an enormous tower made of junk, and, here, the tallest structure is that."

The seasoned warrior pointed to the Space Needle. Indeed, this was not Empire City that they were in. They decided to look around to see if they could find any trace of Cole. This was when they were able to hear what sounded like a conflict nearby.

"That must be him," Kratos looked in the direction of the commotion and began to run in its direction, using the Blades of Exile to scale buildings standing in his way.

Kai simply chuckled, "Doesn't want to take the easy route does he?"

"We better follow him," suggested Nariko, motioning for her adopted system to run with her to where the God of War was headed.

Delsin had used Smoke Thrusters to fly over to where he had thrown the Sulfur Bomb. He landed, expecting just the coughing Reapers, but was surprised by another sight coming from the clearing smoke. Three figures, one using two swords attached to chains to climb buildings, and two running through the streets, all in his direction. Delsin didn't recognize them, and, from the way they were making a beeline for him, they assumed that they were there to cause trouble.

"Brought some friends, eh?" Delsin smirked as he began subduing the stunned Reapers, "Well, I'll make sure that they aren't disappointed."

As soon as he finished subduing the last Reaper, he used Smoke Dash to jump up to Kratos, who had jumped in his direction, and pulled out his chain to slash at him. The God of War, not expecting to be attacked by Delsin, was knocked back towards the building he had jumped from, but quick reflexes allowed him to catch himself on the side of it using one of his blades.

"We are on your side, boy!" Kratos yelled.

"Then prove it!" Delsin was about to initiate a follow up attack when Nariko jumped in front of him and deflected the Cinder Missile he had launched at Kratos.

"That man is the God of War. You think he would be this hesitant to attack someone that isn't his ally?" Nariko tried to convince Delsin, "We are not your enemy."

Delsin, sensing that what she was trying to tell him was genuine, slowly lowered his arm, asking "Who are you?"

"You may call me Nariko. The man you just attacked was Kratos, and, this…" Nariko was joined by Kai as she was talking, who she introduced, "… is Kai. We are looking for a man by the name of Cole MacGrath."

The expression on Delsin's face grew sad, signaling to Nariko that whatever the man was about to tell him wasn't good.

"Cole MacGrath is… is dead. He sacrificed himself for the greater good," Nariko and Kratos, who had just joined them, were both surprised. It hadn't seemed like that long ago that they had fought alongside Cole against the dreaded Polygon-Man.

"I see…" responded Kratos. He had always respected Cole's use of his powers for good and good alone, "Did you know him?"

"Not personally, no. But, like all the other conduits running around nowadays, we all know of him, and his legacy. I'm Delsin," He offered his hand to Nariko, Kai, and Kratos, and each one shook it, "Where did you three come from?"

"Worlds different from this one," Kai answered, "Waaaay different."

Nariko began explaining why they were there. She told him all about the conflict with Polygon-Man, and how Cole fought alongside them and several others to stop the entity's wrath, and how a new transdimensional problem has arised and they were seeking out Cole, who they believed could help them.

"Woah… that's pretty beyond anything I've experienced," Delsin scratched the back of his beanie-covered head, "But, if you'd like, I could help."

"I warn you that whatever is behind all of this is probably very powerful. We can't have you join us if you can't handle yourself," Kratos stated.

"Believe me, I've fought some dangerous things in my 'career'."

"More dangerous than what I've had to face?"

"Well, from the looks of it, you're some sort of Greek guy, and that's where stuff like the Hydra lives, so, I'm not gonna argue that. But I can handle myself, nonetheless."

Kai drifted away from the conversation, deep in thought. She hadn't personally met this 'Cole' figure, but knew that whoever he was, he was a good man and a good ally to Nariko. She was thinking of how great it would be if there was some way that they could bring her back, when, suddenly, it hit her…

"Guys! Wait!" she waved her arms at the conversing warriors, who all drew their attention to her, "I got it!"

"What is it, Kai?" Nariko asked, not having any idea what she was going to suggest.

"So, we have a dimension-hopping portal, right? Well, maybe there's a way that we can use it to find Cole!"

"But Cole is gone! He doesn't walk amongst the living any longer."

"Exactly! All we need to do is set the portal to where the _dead_ walk."

"And how do you suppose we do that?" Delsin entered in. Since he had been more or less integrated into the group, he felt that he should have a say in things like this.

"There were some other mechanisms on that contraption… maybe one of them can get us there!" Delsin was confused by Kai's statement, as he wasn't sure what "that contraption" was. He put two and two together and assumed that it had to do with the portal.

Nariko thought that the idea was silly, but, usually, when her adopted sister had a silly idea, it would give good results. She sighed softly and told her she could go tamper with the one on their current end and see if she could figure out anything. Kai nodded and began to run to the portal. She was only a short distance from it when she almost ran into someone.

"Oh, sorry about… that…" she drifted off from her apology when she got a better view of who or what she had run into.

"What in the world…?" Kai muttered under her breath as she scanned the figure. He was pretty short, only a little shorter than her, but this wasn't the oddest thing about him. He appeared to be made out of what appeared to be sackcloth, with a zipper going up his torso, and his head was big, featuring two button eyes and a large mouth. She could see, based off of his expression, that he was scared and running from something, but, oddly, he didn't make any noise.

The figure looked back and saw what was chasing him, and Kai also caught a view of it. It was a horde of odd creatures, each having featureless, dark red skin bent in weird shapes with anywhere from one to three bright orbs adorning them in various places. The girl gasped, picked up the sack-looking person, and ran away to get the others.


	5. Chapter 5: Sack is Back

Something vile, lurking in the shadows of all existence, gazed out over the aggregation of everything. Its vision was set upon a small window, of which it spoke into.

"Do not allow _him _to get away, and…" Its order was paused as it gazed through the eyes of what he was commanding, seeing something that interfered with his plan.

"_They_ have begun to congregate. This will not do," It was angered by the thought of failure, "Follow and eliminate _her _and any other _interlopers_ you find."

All of the beings that it spoke to, in a tongue that all of them could comprehend, received the order and began to go by it.

Meanwhile, three people, two of them not native to the dimension they were in, were having a discussion while waiting for another member of their group.

"Nariko."

"Yes, Kratos?"

"You never told me how you knew of the Taira."

"It… it happened last time."

"During the conflict of Polygon-Man?"

"Yes… while traveling between worlds at one point, I stumbled somewhere that I had not meant to go," she started, "Nobody was there to fight me, so, I tried wandering around. It was then that I came across a grand battle between two armies… one of human warriors and the other of demonic-looking beings. I saw a villager, who was watching in fear from their nearby home, and asked what was going on. All they said was 'The Taira have come!' before shutting themselves in. Based on the situation, the human warriors looked like they were defending the area they were in, so I assumed that the demons were the Taira. I wanted to help, but, before I got a chance to do anything, a portal opened, forcefully taking me away from there and to where I was headed in the first place. Now, it seems that whatever is opening these portals has opened gateways to that world, and the Taira are coming through."

Delsin tried as hard as he could to follow along, but he had only gotten with the group recently, and had little to no idea of what they were talking about. He prepared to inquire about it as she saw Kai running back towards them, holding something that he couldn't make out.

"Kai? Kai, what's the matter!?" Nariko asked her obviously frightened adopted sister, "And, say, is that…"

Kai put down what, or, more appropriately, whom she was carrying when she got to the trio. Now, everyone could make out who it was. He was short, had a large head, button eyes, a zipper running down his torso, and made out of sackcloth.

Kratos raised an eyebrow, "the boy of sack?"

As soon as he saw them, Sackboy's expression of fear turned into a big smile. He remembered Kratos and Nariko from Polygon-Man's tournament, and knew that they were friends. However, that smile disappeared quickly as he remembered what he was initially running from. He scuttled behind Kratos' leg and looked back to where they had come from.

"What's the matter, uh, Kai, is it?" Delsin asked the girl whose name he still wasn't familiar with.

She was breathing hard from all the running, so she simply pointed back. The heroes saw a horde of odd creatures coming around the corner. With featureless, dark red skin and bright orbs dotting their bodies, they looked nothing like anything that any of them had seen before. All three prepared their weapons.

"I got this," smugly said Delsin as he prepared Smoke Shot. He fired three shots at a nearby large monster, but it was unaffected by them as it was hit on its red skin. The conduit was now getting a bit nervous, knowing that his attacks weren't affecting it.

"If that doesn't work, how do we deal with them?" pondered Nariko as the horde slowly approached them. Meanwhile, behind Kratos' legs, Sackboy was summing up the courage to help out his friends. He ran out in front of all of them and readied the Creatinator, a device that looked like a hard hat with some kind of projectile barrel mounted on the front of it. Sackboy fired a cake out of it, aimed at the same beast's single orb. The projectile shattered it, making the monster reel backwards and disappear into nothingness.

"The orbs are their weak points!" the God of War figured, "thank you, boy of sack!"

Sackboy simply looked back at all of them and smiled, happy that he was able to help.

"You guys hold them off for a bit, I know just what might help," Delsin used Smoke Dash to scale up a building, heading towards a neon sign that he had spotted. Kai had been readying her crossbow and arrows after she had witnessed how the first monster was defeated. She told the Spartan and her adopted sister to hold the front while she got to better ground.

Nariko smirked as she readied her blade, "With pleasure."

Some of the creatures had now gotten close enough to the group to begin attacking. A small one with its orb on top of it, four small legs, and a tentacle on its front ran up to Kratos and tried to swipe at him. The God of War used one of his Blades of Exile to deflect its attack and another to stab downwards onto its weak point, shattering it and defeating the creature. He then began to spin the other blade by the chain, ending in a large swing that destroyed several other beasts' orbs.

Nariko was face to face with a particularly odd specimen of the bunch. It had two legs, a long body with one orb on top of it and the other on its backside, two appendages that resembled antennae, and a curled up… trunk? She had guessed that that was its method in attack in time, as she was able to dodge at the creature's attempt to whip it out at her very closely. She jumped over it, slashing at its top orb once along the way, shattering it. However, when she landed, she looked back to notice that it was still pursuing her.

"Didn't know that _all_ of the orbs had to be destroyed. Makes our jobs a little tougher," She quickly got an idea on how to take out the other orb. She waited for it to try to jump at her, which she used to her advantage by rolling below it, ending up behind her foe. She leaped and stabbed the other orb, destroying it. The warrior jumped off as the creature fell to the floor and vanished. She was unaware that two smaller creatures were about to fire blasts of energy at the distracted woman.

Delsin had just returned. He yelled, "Oh, no you don't!" as he shot two precise bolts of Neon from his hand at the two creatures, hitting their orbs dead-on. Both were defeated by the critical blows.

"Back from your 'errand'?" Remarked Nariko when Delsin landed next to her.

"Well, if a situation calls for precision, I'll wanna go and pick up this," he allowed a bit of his Neon energy to dance through his fingers as he spoke.

"Hope you got enough juice for, let's say, the rest of them" Nariko said as she pointed to the rest of the horde, of which Sackboy, Kratos, and Kai were currently fending off.

Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse for the heros. After a good portion of the odd creatures were defeated, they all heard a gurgling battle cry come from a rooftop. All five looked up to see a tall, lanky man dressed in a light yellow hoodie, whose face was obscured by darkness. It was holding an assault rifle in the air with one hand.

"What is that?" questioned Kratos.

Delsin responded, "That is a reaper conduit, which can only mean… yep."

The "yep" came with the appearance of more reapers along the rooftops, all with weapons ranging from assault rifles to rocket launchers at the ready. What seemed odd was how they had little to no reaction to the beasts that surrounded the heroes.

Kai knew that they couldn't fight all of the beasts AND hooded men combined, "Now might be a good time to get out of here!"

"To the portal!" Nariko agreed. The five heroes began to run through an alley, taking a detour away from the horde of monsters, as the Reapers began firing upon them. Thankfully, they weren't that good of shots, as most shots missed their targets. A heavy Reaper lined up the sights of his rocket launcher as the heroes reached the other side of the distant alley. They all heard the sound of the explosive leaving the weapon.

"Out of the way!" shouted Kratos as he used a Blade of Exile to pull himself up the side of a building, out of the way of the rocket that was headed towards the ground. The rest of them scrambled to get away, and were successful, excluding Sackboy. They all saw him get knocked across the street by impact.

"Sackboy!" yelled Nariko. She ran over to him to see the damage. Thankfully, he wasn't seriously hurt, only singed a little bit. He was able to get up and run with the rest of them in the direction of the portal. When they got to it, Kai immediately slid over to the control panel on that end to set it to somewhere that wasn't there. She saw a switch on the side of it, denoted with curious markings. In the heat of the moment, the girl switched it to the opposite side and set the first coordinates that came to her mind, being 0-0-2-2-3. The portal opened, none of them having time to notice that the energy surrounding did not look nearly as dense as it did before, a product of it not having to connect such distant places this time around. They saw the beasts approaching and the Reapers firing at them, and hastily jumped into the portal.

"Close it, close it!"

The order rang through the minds of all of the Nevi and Reapers. A heavy Reaper shot a rocket at the control panel, destroying it. The portal became unable to sustain itself without the contraption and closed.

Meanwhile, the five heroes that jumped through it looked around them and took in their surroundings. They were at the end of a bridge that led to a large city under an orange sky. What was odd about it was that, when they turned around, they saw that the other end of the bridge led nowhere, simply dropping off into an abyss. They further realized that everything, including the city itself, was suspended over the pit of nothingness.

"Where are we?" questioned Delsin. He walked up to a sign on the bridge that was facing towards them. He was shocked by what it read. The others noticed his reaction.

"What's the matter?" asked Kratos. He watched Delsin as he backed away and pointed at the sign, which read only four words in capital text: WELCOME TO EMPIRE CITY.


	6. Chapter 6: City of the Dead

**Author's Note: **I noticed that I didn't do very much direct stuff with Sackboy in the previous chapter. Sorry about that, but I should note that it's pretty difficult to write for a silent character. I've devised an indirect way for him to take part in dialogue which I will implement in a later chapter.

"Empire City?" Nariko asked, "Of what relevance is that?"

Five heroes had found themselves in a strange world after a narrow escape from evil forces.

"Well," Delsin began to explain, "You knew Cole, didn't you? And didn't you say that you fought in a giant tower of junk at one point? Well, that tower of junk was Alden's Tower, and it resided in Empire City. Emphasis on the _past tense_ there."

"Delsin, what do you mean?" Kratos was just as lost as Nariko.

"Empire City was destroyed by an evil entity known as The Beast. It killed millions, and it was Cole who sacrificed himself in order to destroy it," Delsin looked out over the cityscape, lit orange by the odd sky, "So I'm just going to take a guess, based off of the fact that we're in a city that no longer exists, that we are no longer in the world of the living."

Sackboy was a little frightened by that statement. Being in a world of the dead usually meant that there were plenty of ghoulies that would be after them.

Kai spoke up, "I remember flipping a switch when I was messing with that contraption, that must have been what set this place as the destination."

"So, if that's where we are, what should we do now? They've closed the portal on us, and there's no control system on this end that we can use to open it up again," Nariko paced. Everyone else went to thinking of ideas. Everyone except Kratos. He already knew what they needed to do.

"We have to find Cole," the God of War's tone convinced the others that that was their only option.

Kai turned to Kratos, "That's more of a goal than a plan, isn't it? How do you suppose that we'd find him, anyway?"

Sackboy had an idea. He jumped up and down, trying to get the others' attention. When he had it, he pointed to a particular part of the cityscape. What was unusual about it was the occasional lightning bolt visible in the sky above it.

"That's a sign of a human lightning rod if I've ever seen one," joked Delsin. They decided to let him lead them to the location, as Delsin had a better idea of how to navigate a big city than any of them did.

Meanwhile, in that part of town, someone was having an unusual dream. They slept on a mattress placed on the roof of a building, surrounded by fences placed on the ledges and various amenities, such as a television and a refrigerator. Within his sleep, he received visions.

"… death and destruction on an unimaginable scale…"

"… you and him are one and the same…"

"… I've always been there…"

"… just hope it's not too late."

The man awoke from his sleep with heavy breathing. The visions were made from his past, coming back to haunt him. Ever since he came here, he wondered how the world would be without him. He had little idea of what happened outside, as where he resided now was practically in its own little bubble. Sure, he had met many that he had lost, but that didn't matter. Not when he couldn't find the one that meant the most to him…

"Trish…" he ran his hands over his near-hairless head. He didn't have much to do, as this world worked differently. Nobody who would make trouble on the other side ever came over. People were free to do what they want, but all he wanted was to defend the peace, and the world itself was doing a pretty good job of that itself. He thought he'd go for a run. That always seemed to cheer him up…

"Hey!" A voice called out. He looked around, searching for its source.

"Cole!" Now he knew that whoever it was, they were looking for him. He looked down to the streets and saw some people he never expected to see here.

"Kratos? Nariko? Sackboy?" He called out. They seemed to be glad that they recognized him. He hesitated for a moment, then yelled, "Come on up!"

Kratos used the Blades of Exile to stab into the concrete outer walls of the building and climb up while Nariko jumped agilely from footing to footing to reach the top. Delsin saw an exhaust vent on the side of a nearby building, absorbed a little smoke from it, and turned his form into smoke so that he could enter it and shoot out the chimney on the roof, getting to the top of the building Cole was on. Kai just stood there, feeling left out, as she didn't have any way to get up herself.

Sackboy tugged on her leg to get her attention. He pointed to his equipped jetpack. Kai got the idea and let Sackboy carry her by the arms all the way to the top. The jetpack was strong enough to get the two off the ground, but Sackboy was visibly struggling to hang on to her.

As the five heroes got to the rooftop, they couldn't help but stare at Cole. It was starting to make him a little uncomfortable, so he greeted, "… uh, hi?"

"Cole!" Nariko smiled and went over to give him a hug. She could drop her serious demeanor for a long-lost friend, she figured.

"It is good to see you, warrior of lightning," said Kratos, who smiled (and, oh, how rare that was for him).

Nariko had let go of Cole as Delsin approached him, "Cole MacGrath," he offered a handshake and the electric conduit took it, "I'm a fan."

"You're from my universe?" Cole questioned, receiving a nod from Delsin, "Huh. Sorry, but ya don't really get News at 11 down here."

"So you have no idea what has happened since you… ya know…"

"Nope, not in the slightest."

"Well, I'm Delsin. I'm a conduit and 'the hero of Seattle', as they call me."

"Nice to meet you," Cole looked towards the rest of the group, "So, may I ask what y'all are doing here?"

Kratos stepped forward, "We have reason to believe that something with power along the lines of Polygon-Man's has arisen."

"Polygon-Man?" Cole asked, "I thought we put him out of commission."

"All we know is that something is opening portals," Nariko explained, "And is letting evil forces through them. I was able to get to Kratos' universe through one. Then me, him, and Kai took one to get to your universe, and then, in a narrow escape, we wound up here, and the portal closed after us."

The electric conduit had taken this all in and was trying to think of something. He knew that they needed a way to get out of his world of the dead, but how?

"They told me that they were seeking you out in the first place because of how you can tap into energy, including the one this being's using," Delsin spoke up, "But they ended up finding me, instead."

An idea hit Cole, "Follow me."

They watched as he jumped off the building and used his static thrusters to hover to a power line, which he grinded on using his abilities.

"Is he… headed for Alden's tower?" The others heard Delsin question.

Kratos got a running start, "Best that we follow."

Kratos and the others all headed to where Cole was by their differing modes of locomotion. Sackboy wasn't too content with having to carry the only one without one by himself.

Meanwhile, in another realm of the dead, near-infinitely far away from Cole's, there was a man banging his fists against its boundaries.

"No! I will not be held here any longer!" shouted the figure. He was visibly quite old, with long, white hair and an equally long and white beard. His pupil-less eyes seethed with rage, "I must restore order!"

Ever since he had wound up there, he had been trying to get out. Even with the power that he held, nothing could break him out. Or, so he thought…

"Greetings…" a mysterious voice called out. The old man looked around before he heard it call his name, "… _Zeus_."

"Who dares speak to me!?" he yelled out, "I demand to know!"

"Why, a friend, if _you_ so desire," the voice was no longer disembodied as at the form of what appeared to be a blurry, featureless face, with piercing eyes formed, looking right at Zeus.

"I will not put trust in any false god," he proclaimed, "For I am the god of gods!"

The face never changed expression, "_I_ am well aware. Such a sad thing for the _god of gods_ to be locked up in such a place, isn't it?"

Zeus agreed, but did not want to humor this speaker, "What is it that you want?"

"_You_ and _I_ have a common enemy. You remember _him_, I'm sure. After all, he's the one who put you here."

"He is more than my enemy!" Zeus' rage was visibly marked by large thunderbolts around him, "He is a threat to the order of Olympus and all that lies below."

"Then join _me,_" the face offered, "And _you_ will have the opportunity to take back what is _yours_."

Zeus thought about the offer. All he wanted at this point was to have his revenge, yet, he could not allow himself to be humiliated by the idea of putting someone above himself. He simply spat, "Revenge is not worth stooping to your level."

The face's eyes squinted as he responded, "_I _was afraid that _you_ would say that."

The god of gods did not have time to react before he felt the intense pain. It was not a pain of the body, but more a pain of the mind, as if the being had reached its hands into there and was clawing at it.

"Fear. Amplified by Pandora's Box. It drove _you_ mad. Let's make it drive _you_ madder," The being used its power to manipulate Zeus. His fear of what would come of Kratos' wrath was amplified, to the point that he would be willing to do anything to stop it. When the being was done with him, he dropped to his knees, hands on the ground, breathing hard.

"I…" Zeus started, "… have changed my mind."

The face turned into a portal, beckoning its new minion into it. Zeus knew where he was going. Back to Mount Olympus, to assemble an army…

**Author's Note: **I'm sorry that I couldn't fit much action in here, but this chapter has taken me way too long to write. Worry not, fighting will be a big part of the next chapter. See you then!


	7. Chapter 7: Cole's Idea

Cole MacGrath was perched up on a lamp post, waiting patiently for his company to arrive. They came, one by one: Kratos, Delsin, Nariko, Sackboy, and Kai, who was being carried by a less-than-content Sackboy.

"What's the matter there, buddy? Can't handle the load?" Cole joked. Since Sackboy couldn't speak, all he could do was make an angry face and flip his arms up for a second. Everyone looked to Cole, wondering why he had brought them here.

"Well," Cole began to answer the question on everyone's minds, "Since the portal you guys came through was destroyed, I realized that we couldn't get out of here through it. So, I began thinking of any alternatives. Thankfully, there is one, and I know just who can help…"

He looked up to what was behind them: Alden's tower.

Nariko raised an eyebrow, "And who might that be?"

Cole smirked, "You'll see."

He then began waving a hand up in the air and calling for somebody. He continued this as he started walking towards the base of the tower, with the others following. The others soon saw who he was waving to. It was an old, bald man, with what appeared to be a glass eye. He was clad in a ragged coat with pieces of junk sewed into it as armor. He saw Cole and picked up a cane before staggering towards them.

"Hello, Cole," his voice sounded as old as he looked, and seemed to have an accent they thought would belong to someone of upper class. The others didn't really think that he looked the part.

"Hey," he greeted back to the old man. He turned to the others, "Guys, meet Mr. Alden Tate."

All of them except Kai were a bit shocked by this statement. Kratos spoke up, "Tate? Is he not an enemy of yours?"

Cole expected this kind of reaction, "Don't worry, that was in the past. We've both been down here for a while, so, we managed to get that cleared up."

"I realized that I was wrong," said Alden to the rest of them, "Cole was not my enemy. Kessler was, but, now, he is no more."

"So, is he the one you're saying can help?" Nariko asked Cole.

Cole replied, "You bet," before turning back to Tate and explaining their situation. He told them of how a force has ripped holes between universes, and how they used one to get to their realm of the dead. The others weren't paying all that much attention until they heard Cole telling his idea to Alden, who looked at him with uncertainty.

"What? That's next to absurd, Cole! It won't work."

"It could. It's worth a shot, isn't it? Besides, with us two conduits working at it together, we'll have more than enough energy to pull it off."

"We are only two!"

"Then… why not make it three?"

Cole's gaze was followed by Alden, who found it fixed upon Delsin. Alden asked, "Who is he?"

"Oh, you know, just a conduit."

"Of what?"

"I'm not sure… lemme ask him," Cole called to Delsin and asked what powers he had.

Delsin began counting off his fingers, "Let's see, uh… smoke, neon, video, and concrete. Mainly depending on what's most abundant at the time."

Alden looked at him in amazement, "Four? Four different powers? But… how?"

"Apparently, I'm able to copy other conduits' powers. Each of those four powers, I got from others," Delsin explained.

Cole looked back at Alden, "So, think he could help?"

Alden thought about it for a bit before saying, "Well, I don't have anything much better to do anyway. Come on, if we're to put Cole's idea to the test, we'd need to do it from the top of the tower."

He was about to lead the way before they all heard a loud boom. It didn't sound like an explosion, more like a… pulse. They looked to see a rift opening where most of them had entered from. However, what caught their attention was a sea of armor-clad undead warriors pouring through it.

"Well, there's a portal. Think we could try going through that?" Kai suggested.

"No, there's too many of them. We need to make haste," Responded Kratos. He turned to Alden, who nodded and went up to an elevator on the side of the tower that went to the top. All of them got on it as Cole fired off a small arc of electricity to its generator, turning it on. They all looked towards the recent portal, hoping that they could get away before that army came and overwhelmed them.

Meanwhile, Zeus had come out of the portal, floating above and inspecting the Olympian guardians below him.

He shouted with a booming voice, "Go now! Find and capture the threat and anyone who aids him!"

The god of gods heard affirmative, lifeless vocalizations from below as the soldiers marched towards the city. Zeus looked up, seeing the tower and several figures riding a lift going up its side.

"You cannot escape any longer, Kratos," He said to himself.

The group had just gotten to the top of the tower. Alden and Cole went ahead and began with their plan. Cole made motions with his hands as Alden used his telekinesis to lift steel girders off the side of the tower and into a large triangular formation. Delsin was called over to Cole so that he could hear his part of the plan.

"Okay, Delsin, here's what's gonna happen. I'm going to summon an Ionic Storm on the girders, filling them with electrical energy. That's when you're gonna use your neon powers to shoot inside the formation. If this works as I think it will, the energy from all three of us will combine, creating a rift that we can go through. I don't know where it will lead us, but, we need to start somewhere right?" Cole explained as Delsin was trying to take all of this in. Delsin nodded before heading over to a neon sign stuck in the side of the tower and absorbing its energy, giving him neon abilities over smoke. He stood right next to Cole, facing the triangle.

"Ready when you are," Said Delsin.

Cole began the countdown, "3… 2… 1… now!"

Cole summoned down an Ionic Storm, directly hitting the formation of steel girders, making them crackle violently with electricity. Delsin jumped in the air and used Radiant Sweep, shooting bolts of neon rapidly at the center of the triangle. When the neon came into contact with the electricity, it created a quick flash of white light, which happened several times before a large flash of light burst outwards, making everyone shield their eyes.

Delsin slowly looked back at the formation, "Did… did it work?"

They were all greeted with the sight of a portal where the gap in the triangle used to be. It didn't look quite as stable as the ones they had seen before, but everyone was ecstatic to see that it had worked. Even Kratos, Cole, and Alden, who were usually quite reserved people.

"I suppose that you all will be going now?" asked Alden.

"Yeah. We've got some work to do," Cole responded. He was about to tell the others to go through the portal before a voice spoke up, interrupting him.

"Not if I can help it!" They all looked up to see an old man with pupil-less eyes hovering above them. He had long hair and a long beard, and looked down upon them with anger.

"Zeus!" Kratos roared. Out of all of them, he was the least happy to see the god of gods.

"I have been relieved of my confinement, and, now, I will set things right," he landed on the edge of the tower roof, shaking the structure with the impact. He summoned electricity into his hands as he went into a fighting stance.

"Go! I will distract him!" Alden called out to the others. Cole began to argue against the idea, but Alden insisted. He led the others toward the portal.

"You are helping these foolish mortals? Well, then, I suppose that you will fall with them."

"I may not know who you are, but I will be sure to stop you!" Alden used his telekinesis to pick up various bits of scrap metal that made up the tower. He summoned them to himself as they formed around him in the shape of a hunched, brutish golem.

Zeus looked at him with slight intrigue, "You are no ordinary mortal. No matter, a mortal is just a mortal," the god of gods began charging at Alden, who did the same in the golem husk. Fist collided with giant, metal fist as they were locked in an epic struggle.

"Go, get through!" Cole had guided the last other member of their party, Sackboy, into the portal. The conduit looked back to see Zeus and Alden in the middle of battle. As much as he wanted to help, he knew that he was needed elsewhere. He gave one last look of worry before jumping into the portal.

Zeus threw a lightning bolt at the golem, hitting it in the chest and knocking it back. Alden himself wasn't harmed too much, as the metal plating absorbed most of the impact, but he still felt the hurt. He raised the golem's right arm up and began shooting bits of scrap metal out of it like a chaingun. Zeus raised his arms, his godly strength allowing him to block most of the hits.

"Time to end this!" shouted the god of gods. He jumped over a fiery chunk of scrap that Alden had fired at him and landed in front of the construct. Zeus let his lightning flow into his hands as he brought them out and clapped them together, creating a shockwave devastating enough to shatter Alden's golem. The conduit could do nothing as he rolled along the ground, badly hurt. He saw Zeus standing above him.

"I will… never… submit to you," Alden weakly stated before passing out. Zeus looked around to see that a handful of Olympian guardians had climbed up the side of the tower and joined him.

"Take him and bring him to our associate," commanded Zeus. One warrior grabbed Alden by the arms and another by the legs as they carried him away, with Zeus following. Suddenly, the god of gods heard the voice of this "associate" speak out to him.

"What am _I_ to do with _him_? How can _he_ be of use?"

"He has great power. I have experienced it for myself. But I am sure that he can be bent to our will."

"_My_ will, may _I_ remind you. Continue searching for the interlopers. _I_ will deal with _Mr. Alden Tate_."


End file.
